Winter Blues No More

I'm like a bear in the winter. I hibernate. I'm lazy, tired, grouchy...and lazy. Maybe it's light deprivation, but it seems to run deeper than that. Regardless, other than loving me a white Christmas, I loath winter.

So as soon as spring days start to overwhelm cold wintry ones, when buds start to decorate tree branches, when daffodils perk up their buttery yellow heads, when the birds' songs are carried through my open windows on a warm breeze, when wild onions start popping up everywhere, when the sun warms the side of my face as I walk outside with the dog; then I wake up.

I immediately need to clean, air out the house, cook a wonderful meal, listen to Don Henley in the car, and take walks. A little bounce returns to my step, my smile becomes easier, I see God absolutely everywhere I look. Not only does the sun wake up my personality and productivity, but it warms my soul and reminds me who I am.

I am my favorite self in the springtime.

So I'm finally awake today. And it feels amazing! It's 70 degrees. On March 13th. Say what? I don't know how or why, but I'll take it.

While Sam was a school today, Lena and I did laundry, started an amazing slow-cooked pasta bolognese sauce, dusted, vaccumed (Hazel, our iRobot Roomba, handled the upstairs for me), watered plants, brushed Henry, hung up some of the kids artwork, cleaned the kitchen. And when we got home the kids ate a big hot lunch, I cleaned up the kitchen (again), did some more laundry and we walked Henry before rest time.

The pasta is bubbling away and the windows are all open...the house smells awesome. And I feel incredible.

Thanks spring, for showing up early and kicking my winter blues right out the door.

Eyes Skyward

I'm home with a sick son today. Poor feverish Sammy boy...

Earlier this morning we let Henry out to run around the backyard since it's so nice today. He's just a happy little fluffy furball running and hopping around out there. He's so cute. Like a big bunny.

The hawk evidently thought so too.

I let Henry inside, put him in his crate, and turned to pour a cup of coffee when Sam and I heard a loud thunk on our big windows in the living room. Sometimes little birds hit the windows (though I don't know how because my windows are always filthy), but this sounded much louder than our normal stupid robins.

We ran to the back door to see what it was, and we saw it. An enormous hawk was sitting on our back porch, stumbling around a little, shaking it's head. Then it spread its wings and flew away.

Those wings, I swear, took up a huge portion of our porch. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it. I was like Wild America or something. I never would have thought a bird would be able to pick up a 6 pound puppy, but after seeing it that close, how big its wings and feet were, well, I don't doubt it anymore.

So, I guess we can't let poor Henry outside alone anymore. Like house training him isn't enough of a struggle...now we have to keep our eyes skyward to stay on guard for puppy predators.

Life in the suburbs...

Henry

Meet Henry, our new puppy.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

One of Rich's Christmas gifts to me was either a puppy or new carpet. Initially, I was leaning toward the carpet - we really need it. And the last thing we need is a puppy.

So of course, we chose a puppy.

We've been talking about dogs on and off for probably a year, trying to figure out when to get one, researching breeds, etc. We'd kind of been off the search for awhile when Rich surprised me with this idea at Christmas. So the search began again.

I found a breed we really liked first, but from researching figured out they were bad with cats. Miles wasn't down with that. Then we found the Havanese. They're small but not tiny (about 15 pounds as adults), sturdy, healthy, playful, calm, not big barkers or yippers, fluffy with non-shedding hair (they have hair, not fur, so they only shed about as much as I do...hallelujah), great with kids, dogs and cats.

Bingo.

A breeder in Mt. Vernon had the sweetest Havanese boy for sale online, so we went up this morning and got him.

Sam picked the name Henry from a list we'd compiled. So Henry it is.

The kids love him. I haven't heard a sound from him so far, and he's peed outside already. Of course he also vomited on my lap on the car ride home and peed on me when I picked him up before he was finished outside too, but let's focus on the positive!

Welcome to the family, Henry!